Happy Birthday
by ShazzyZhang
Summary: Carol lets slip to Daryl it's her birthday. Daryl decides to make a gesture she won't forget. Fluff. Romance. Carol x Daryl.


_AN: Another fluffy piece in exchange for my editor's service. Carol/Daryl for everyone's enjoyment. As usual, I don't own any of the characters. Also, yes, the weapons I reference exist. You can look them up. Enjoy my fluffy silliness._

**Happy Birthday.**

It was surprising that Daryl remembered. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone else, and even then it was just a passing comment.

It was Carol's birthday.

Daryl was nervous. He'd remembered when she had told him in conversation that her birthday was coming up. He decided that she deserved something nice. It had been a hellish year for her. The only problem was that there wasn't really anything that Daryl could do for her. Sure, he could pick flowers but that seemed too common. And flowers weren't very useful.

Luckily for Daryl, Rick was taking a trip to the nearest town and Daryl offered to go with, claiming to want to raid the local drugstore for painkillers. When Rick nearly refused, Daryl insisted that he needed stronger ones, muscle relaxants for a shoulder injury he'd sustained when he'd been searching for Sophia. Rick couldn't argue with that logic and the two men set off.

The trip was easy. There was a little strip mall where Rick was headed anyway; he was hoping to find more ammunition for their weapons. Daryl couldn't argue with that logic either. They had to be quick though, the town was crawling with walkers and they sure didn't want to be caught after dark.

The strip mall was deserted and they had no trouble breaking in again. They stopped at the pharmacy first. Daryl stayed on watch as Rick raided the aisles for painkillers and muscle relaxants. The men worked in silence. They had no need to chat.

Rick returned to Daryl's side within the span of five minutes. He produced a backpack and showed Daryl the contents. Painkillers, muscle relaxants, antihistamines and various medical supplies. Daryl smirked. These were the things that no one thought about when the shit hit the fan. Rick handed Daryl a bottle of water and nodded his head back towards the mall.

Silently, Daryl followed. When they were safely inside the mall and away from the pharmacy's huge open windows, Daryl greedily drank the water. It was overly warm and the tension had dried his mouth. Rick followed suit with his own bottle of water and they set the empties in Rick's backpack.

Daryl was carrying the Sheriff's bag that usually contained guns. It was empty and Rick had the intention to fill it with munitions. Just in case. There was a small gun shop in the strip mall and Rick recalled it having not been looted.

Daryl followed quietly, his crossbow in hand as he scoured the area, making sure there were no walkers nearby. He stopped, however, as they passed the clothing store they'd raided last time.

"Hang on a second." Daryl asked quietly. "I wanna grab something."

Rick frowned but nodded, keeping watch for Daryl.

Daryl smiled. "You need anything from in there?" He asked in a whisper, nodding towards the store he was casing.

Rick arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Can't say that I do." He said. "What do _you_ need from in there? I didn't think you were one for fashion."

Daryl narrowed his eyes, unamused. "You'll see when I get back." He countered, heading off on his own.

Five minutes passed in tense silence. Rick was fidgeting nervously. He knew that if there were walkers, there'd be no way he'd her Daryl's crossbow firing. He also assumed that Daryl would hold off a horde by himself, but he hoped he wouldn't be that headstrong.

Finally, Daryl emerged from the store. He appeared to be empty handed.

"Didn't have your size?" Rick asked.

"Shut up." Daryl shot back lightly. "Let's go, I wanna get back before dark."

Rick gave Daryl a questioning look but didn't argue. Raiding the city at night sucked.

The gun store was open, and it looked like most of the merchandise had been left. Empty casing littered the floor, however, and Rick and Daryl exchanged glances. There'd been a stand off.

Cautiously they made their way through the store, checking to make sure there were no nasty surprises before they began looting. There weren't.

"Lucky us." Rick mumbled.

Daryl nodded.

The two men moved like ghosts amongst the racks of weapons, filling the sheriff's bag as full as they could. Most of the weapons had been looted it seemed, but they did find two additional shotguns. Daryl grabbed a new bag from the wall and filled it with crossbow arrows. He examined the hunting supplies and grabbed some extra parts for his crossbow and the gear for snare traps. He also procured a new buck knife for himself. Glancing over his shoulder he made sure that Rick was thoroughly distracted by the other things in the store and he slipped two other items surreptitiously into the bag he was filling.

"Ready to go?" Daryl asked, hoisting his now-full bag over his shoulder.

Rick eyed him suspiciously. "Thought you screwed that shoulder up?"

Daryl shrugged. "Ain't nothing I can do about it till we get back." He explained. "Hurts like hell but I won't take anything till I'm done my turn on watch. Last thing you need is me fallin' asleep yeah?"

"You are one tough son of a bitch." Rick said amiably, not catching Daryl's lie. "Let's go."

They were so lucky.

Back at camp, Daryl excused himself to his own little corner of the yard. No one really bothered him over there. He had his own workspace and most of the rest of the group knew that when he was working he'd not stop to talk. Hell, they even let him keep his tent set up away from the rest of them. It suited him fine and it meant that he could keep an extra eye out for stray walkers. Or stray game as the case might be. He cast a glance around the camp and ducked inside his tent.

He carefully removed the items he'd procured in secret from the bag. He made sure there were no tags on them – not that it mattered, but it was the thoughtful thing to do – and wrapped them together. He was nervous, he hoped that he'd done all right. He wasn't used to 'shopping' for girls.

As the group began to gather for their evening meal – one that Carol had undoubtedly prepared – he started to feel the pull of his nerves. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to give Carol the gift he'd gotten. He was embarrassed.

He ate his meal quietly, alone from the main group as he tried not to show how nervous he really was.

Rick sat next to him.

"You want the night off?" He offered as he sipped at the thin broth Carol had made.

"What do you mean?" Daryl asked quietly.

"If you're gonna take muscle relaxants for your shoulder, I will take your watch." Rick replied easily. It was a kind gesture, but Daryl needed to refuse.

"That doesn't seem fair." Daryl replied stoically.

Rick shrugged. "Can't have you injured. If something were to happen..."

Daryl sighed. "Look, Rick, I would love to take you up on your offer, but I'd be making a fool outta myself." He began. "I ain't actually injured. I wanted to come to town for..." He hesitated. "Other reasons."

"I wouldn't have known what you needed for traps and stuff, and I'm glad you got more arrows." Rick replied easily. "I'd have asked you to come with me this time anyway." He shrugged. "But what[s killing me is why you wanted to go to the clothing store."

Daryl sighed and felt the blush creeping up the back of his neck. "It's Carol's birthday." He admitted, instantly grabbing Rick's arm. "Don't say nothin'. She doesn't want people to fuss."

Rick nodded. "Obviously." He grinned. "She only told you didn't she?"

Daryl nodded. "I got her somethin'. I thought flowers would be too predictable."

Rick's grin disappeared. "If you hurt her any more, Daryl, I will pay you back tenfold."

Daryl sighed. "I hope you do."

Rick patted his friend on the shoulder. "Good luck."

Daryl fidgeted as Rick got up and left him to his meal.

As the dishes and leftovers were being cleared away, Daryl pulled Carol aside.

"Come walk with me." Daryl asked, giving Lori a scowl when she moved forward to intervene.

Carol smiled and gave Lori a nearly imperceptible nod. Lori backed off and didn't say anything.

Carol walked with Daryl, they were awkward together, keeping a slight distance between them as they walked. There was no chit chat, no physical contact. Things hadn't been as smooth between them recently as they both had wished.

Daryl was suddenly nauseous, his nerves were playing with him and he briefly wondered if he should just forget the whole thing.

"You brought me to your tent." Carol observed, mildly amused. "Are you going to kill me or something?"

It was a light-hearted jape. Daryl was relieved to hear it coming from her. He smiled easily. It meant that she was in a better mood.

"Ha ha, no." Daryl replied, more sarcastically than he intended. "I uh... hang on."

Carol was confused when Daryl disappeared into his tent. He'd hidden her gift among his things. He returned a moment later carrying a small cloth bundle. Awkwardly he handed it to her, not meeting her eyes.

"I thought that uh... you could use these." Daryl stammered and Carol unwrapped her gift. The cloth turned out to be a pale blue knitted shawl that had caught Daryl's eye.

"An' I'll teach you how to use that." He added as Carol produced a small handgun and a buck knife with an ebony handle from the bundle. "It's a SIG Sauer Mosquito." Daryl continued, hurriedly. "It's a .22, so it's small and it's a semi-automatic." He shrugged. "I thought you could use it, I hate to see you unarmed."

Carol stared at the small gun and the beautiful knife in her hands. The knitted shawl was draped over her arm and it was soft against her skin. She held these weapons and stared incredulously. No one had ever trusted her with a gun and now she had her own knife, it was too much.

"Thank you." Carol managed to say as she felt tears of gratitude welling up in her eyes. She looked up at Daryl.

Daryl smiled. He reached over and draped the shawl over her shoulders. "It's definitely your colour." He said confidently. "Happy birthday."

Still holding the weapons, one in each trembling hand, Carol threw her arms around Daryl. This was definitely one of her better birthdays.


End file.
